From now on, Turkeys' relations with Israel will be at the level of second secretary, and even this level will not be permanent.

Second, we have frozen our commercial ties pertaining to military industries. Israel is not honest in this regard. It does not conform to proper commercial values. We have purchase and sale agreements, which include the maintenance of unmanned aircrafts by Israel. The agreement requires Israel to do this, but because of the problems between us, Israel has not handed these aircrafts over to us.

Third, from now on, we will be seeing Turkish ships in the international waters of the eastern Mediterranean. We will be seeing them more and more. I am referring to Turkish military ships. The world will see more and more warships, especially in maritime areas in which we have economic interests. From now on, Israel will not be able to impose its influence in these regions however it likes. It must realize this.

There is another important measure. Based upon its relations with us and our goodwill, Israel conducted joint military operations with us. Of course, a year ago, we stopped maneuvers of this kind. We cancelled them, and from now on, there will be no military cooperation or joint military maneuvers. This is impossible. We will not do this anymore.

The fifth issue pertains to our slain brothers – the victims aboard the Marmara, in particular. We will defend their rights. We will give them the greatest support, and we will continue to defend their rights, and we will pursue their case in the Hague court to the end.

As you know, Israel has begun to declare its control over areas of economic influence, as it sees fit, and has declared them areas in which it has interests. It will see that it has no authority in these areas.

Turkey has economic interests in these regions, especially in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Turkey is a guarantor state in Cyprus, and its position is well known there. Therefore, Turkey must display its resolve there, and guarantee freedom of navigation in international waters at all times.

With regard to the ships sailing to Gaza, [Turkey] will not hesitate to take measures. We will give all possible support to the transfer of humanitarian aid, and will provide the necessary arrangements. The main mission of Turkish military ships is to protect Turkish vessels. This is their duty. We will send humanitarian aid to [Gaza], and this aid will not be subject to any attack like the one on the Mavi Marmara. If they are attacked, the attackers will meet an appropriate response.Hmmmm.....Since Erdogan and Obama have weekly phone calls one can only conclude he has Obama's backing on this.Source here.

Turkey is a member of NATO. Article One of the NATO charter reads as follows:The Parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.Turkey’s warlike threats obviously contradict the NATO charter.

Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan 4.7 and 4.8 in Chili and Guam ! More info here.

Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.

Breaking - Blast rocks nuclear plant in France.(RT).At least one person has been killed and three more wounded in an explosion which rocked on Monday a nuclear power plant in Marcoule, southern France.According to emergency services, there is a risk of a radioactive leak after the blast. Meanwhile French nuclear authorities say there is no leak “at this time”.All of the plant's reactors have been shut down following the incident. There is no clear information immediately available as to how much risk the incident poses.The site is involved in the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, and operates a pressurized water reactor used to produce tritium.Sources say the blast happened in one of the workshops where nuclear waste is disposed of.Le Figaro newspaper reports that there was also a fire in the storage site where explosion set off.Read full story here.

The Secret Blue State Plan To Steal The 2012 Elections.(JosuahPundit).The deep Blue states above all have something in common. They're all ruled by solid Democrat majorities in their State Legislatures and they've all passed legislation designed to favor Democrat urban strongholds, disenfranchise less populated Red States and have a decisive effect on the 2012 election.And very few people know about it.The legislation is known as The National Popular Vote bill, and there's an ongoing attempt to get it passed in as many states as possible. It's mainly being championed by Democrats, with a sprinkling of Republicans to give it the aura of 'bi-partisanship'.The states above control 138 electoral votes. Because they've all signed on to The National Popular Vote Act, those electoral votes will automatically go to the candidate who gets the most popular votes nationally - regardless of how the citizens of these states actually vote.For instance, let's say that in 2012 the largely Republican voters in downstate Illinois and some of the suburbs manage to outvote the Democrats, corpses, illegal aliens and vagrants put together by the ward bosses and the machine in Chicago and Cook County. Because the Democrats in the Illinois Legislature have managed to push the National Popular Vote Act through, Illinois' 20 electoral votes would go not necessarily to the Republican candidate the majority of voters in the state chose but to whichever candidate got the majority of votes nationally. If Barack Obama were to win the popular vote nationally by even as little as 100 votes, Illinois' 20 electoral votes will automatically go him.This scenario is also known as Al Gore's wet dream.

None of these states held a referendum on this. It was all done by legislative fiat.It's also interesting to look at some of the people behind this.The Chairman, Dr. John Kozas of Los Altos California is a wealthy lefty who made his money from co-inventing the scratch-off lottery ticket and then lobbying state governments to sell them. Among many other far Left and socialist groups and candidates he's supported as a donor and/or bundled for is Howard Dean's Democracy For America ( DFA) political organization, Berkeley nut case Rep. Barbara Lee, Senator Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders, Keith Ellison, The Democratic Farmer/Labor Party, the DNC, Senator Boxer's PAC for a Change, and of course, Barack Obama. The list is a long one.Tom Golisano is a prominent business man with deep pockets who was the co-counder of the Independence Party of New York, a party split between Perotistas and a strong Marxist element. He was also a Kerry donor. Forbes estimates his personal wealth at $1.2 billion.Barry Fadem, the president, is a long-time Democrat operative in California, who worked for Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally arguably one of the most incompetent and perhaps racist public officials in state history. He's another Boxer donor, as well as to ActBlue, an organization that seeks to organize boycotts to penalize businesses thought to be too 'Republican'.Jason Roe was a Republican operative in the northeast with all that implies until he got a little too close to Jack Abramoff.National Popular Vote Secretary Chris Pearson is another long time far Left Democrat operative who worked with admitted socialist Bernie Sanders and the Progressive Party.Larry Sokol is a longtime Democrat legislative staffer and lobbyist in California. His connections were instrumental in shepherding the Nation Popular Vote Bill through the California Legislature.Former Minnesota GOP Representative Laura Brod is something of the odd person out here.While the cast of the group is overwhelmingly Left- leaning, Brod says there is a conservative argument for NPV.She claims that this is a state's rights prerogative according to Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, that the current system means that national candidates spend their time and resources and craft policy based on the needs of battleground states while ignoring states with little electoral clout and states they feel they have no chance of carrying. Brod's argument is that NPV will make every vote count and force National candidates to campaign in every state. These arguments all have some validity. Democrat nominees usually give Utah and Texas a pass and Republicans do the same to Connecticut and Massachusetts.Where she's mistaken, in my opinion is the ultimate outcome. Widespread adoption of the NPV would simply give the Democrats an opportunity and the incentive to build up huge vote tallies in the corrupt urban strongholds they control by means fair or foul in an attempt to simply overwhelm voters in smaller Red states.Voting illegal aliens, dead people, 'activists' being carted from state to state taking advantage of same day registration and felons in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City and similar areas wouldn't just affect those states anymore...it would infect the voting process throughout the country and ultimately make the Electoral college irrelevant.This is a Trojan Horse. And that's exactly why this group is mainly led by Left wing Democrats and why legislatures dominated by Democrats in Blue states are in love with it.Make no mistake about it. This is a well-funded, highly organized group and could have a major impact in 2012. And hardly anyone knows about it.Hmmmm....Democracy or Dictatorship?Read the full story here.

Crowd Cheers Bush at Ground Zero… Silence For Obama Video.(BarracudaBrigade).During the ceremonies today at Ground Zero on the 10 year anniversary of the attacks, the crowd was noticeably silent when Obama walked to the microphone. But the reaction was entirely different for Bush.Read and see the full story here.

How Harvard Remembered 9/11.Hint: their Middle East program is funded by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.(PajamasMedia).While most of the nation was commemorating the fallen of 9/11 with sadness and resolve to understand the ongoing threat of Islamic extremism, arguably the nation’s foremost institution of higher learning approached the tenth anniversary from a very different perspective.At Harvard, the theme was — you guessed it — “Islamophobia.” From Harvard’s introductory declaration for its “campus-wide panel”:Today marks the anniversary of the horrific attacks of September 11th, 2001. As Americans reflect and mourn the loss of nearly 3000 people, Muslim Americans not only share their grief, but also express their own challenges amidst stereotyping, discrimination, racial profiling and hate crimes.Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the event’s producer, declined to invite a single representative from any victims’ groups. There were no speakers from the September 11th Families Association, 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America, Uniformed Firefighters of Greater New York, or Tuesday’s Children (a support group for those who lost relatives on that day).Thanks in great measure to Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s Islamic Studies Program, there were — in abundance — plenty of academics obviously recruited to remind students of their take on the real tragedy surrounding 9/11: the racism, bigotry, and, of course, Islamophobia inherent in American society.It was the deep-pocketed prince whose $10 million “donation” to the Twin Towers Fund was summarily refused by then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Having been rebuffed, the prince quickly dropped $20 million into the laps of Harvard and Georgetown shortly thereafter — no refusals there.And what a bounty those riyals have yielded. The prince knew precisely where to monetize Saudi influence at the two most prestigious academic factories supplying the State Department. At Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the prince’s suggestion that the United States “re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinians” has produced results. For a decade, Harvard has presented a wildly skewed lineup of jihadist apologists and anti-Israel academics, from discredited charlatans like Ilan Pappe to spokesmen like Mustafa Abu Sway — who likes to remind us that “terror is the weapon of the weak.”The session’s components were designed not to commemorate the dead and to discover the role played by al-Qaeda and its jihadist antecedents, but to examine the ingrained bigotry of non-Muslim white Americans. The CMES sought to reduce the murders to a PC lesson plan for high school teachers:What role do you think Muslim artists and authors might play in dispelling stereotypes about Islam?In keeping with banishing the victims to the shadows, educational gobbledygook reigned supreme, again highlighting the nastiness of America and its fundamental bias against Muslims:How do the notions of uniforms and the flags inform our idea of identity? Of “other?”Is there/who is the implied “other” in both of these images?Other PowerPoint slides revealed a distinct absence of attention to human suffering, focusing more on the mechanics of destruction:The Facade Falls: The latticework facing of the south tower came tumbling to earth upon impact of the hijacked plane.Were the authors cleverly trying to insinuate their views of America’s “facade” of tolerance?Overseeing the apologist gala was Professor Jocelyne Cesari, the French Algerian-born political scientist, recently of — where else? — Columbia University, and director of Harvard’s “Islam in the West” and “Islamopedia” programs. Among other brilliant observations, Professor Cesari has dubbed the misogynistic, Jew-hating, homophobic (to the point of extermination) Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi “not a radical.”Other faculty advisers included Duncan Kennedy, Carter professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School, whose attention for many years has been focused less on general jurisprudence and more on the delegitimization of Israel. Following Operation Cast Lead in 2008, Kennedy convened a discussion/tribunal declaring Israel guilty of violating basic tenets of international humanitarian law. They barely mentioned Hamas.The historical reality of the theory and practice of jihad was not a welcome concept at this event. The word was virtually unutterable. In a brief glossary, however — apparently provided by another happy recipient of Prince bin Talal’s largesse, John Esposito of Georgetown’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding — jihad is described this way:Jihad may refer to a defensive military action undertaken to protect a Muslim community from an armed aggressor, generally understood to be non-Muslim

Aggressive jihad, it would seem, does not exist and has never existed. Were the 19 terrorists performing a “defensive military action” on 9/11?Hmmmmm......The Institution who 'produced' Barack HUSSEIN Obama.Read the full story here.

Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal threatens the United States on Palestinian veto exactly ten years after 9/11.(NYT).The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world. If it does not, American influence will decline further, Israeli security will be undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region. Moreover, Saudi Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has. With most of the Arab world in upheaval, the “special relationship” between Saudi Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic by the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims, who demand justice for the Palestinian people. Saudi leaders would be forced by domestic and regional pressures to adopt a far more independent and assertive foreign policy. Like our recent military support for Bahrain’s monarchy, which America opposed, Saudi Arabia would pursue other policies at odds with those of the United States, including opposing the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq and refusing to open an embassy there despite American pressure to do so. The Saudi government might part ways with Washington in Afghanistan and Yemen as well. The Palestinian people deserve statehood and all that it entails: official recognition, endorsement by international organizations, the ability to deal with Israel on more equal footing and the opportunity to live in peace and security. Israel should see the Palestinian bid for statehood not as a threat, but as a chance to return to the negotiating table and prevent further conflict. Recent polls show that up to 70 percent of Palestinians say they believe there will be a new intifada if the deadlock is not broken shortly; this should encourage Israel to seek peace with the moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The Obama administration has had ample opportunities to lead Israelis and Palestinians into bilateral peace talks, but American policy makers have unfortunately been more preoccupied with a deteriorating domestic economy and a paralyzed political scene than with finding a workable solution to this epic injustice. Because Washington has offered no viable new proposals, the least it can do is step aside and not hinder Saudi, European and moderate Arab efforts to advance Palestinian rights at the United Nations.Today, there is a chance for the United States and Saudi Arabia to contain Iran and prevent it from destabilizing the region. But this opportunity will be squandered if the Obama administration’s actions at the United Nations force a deepening split between our two countries.Although Saudi Arabia is willing and able to chart a new and divergent course if America fails to act justly with regard to Palestine, the Middle East would be far better served by continuing cooperation and good will between these longstanding allies. American support for Palestinian statehood is therefore crucial, and a veto will have profound negative consequences. In addition to causing substantial damage to American-Saudi relations and provoking uproar among Muslims worldwide, the United States would further undermine its relations with the Muslim world, empower Iran and threaten regional stability. Let us hope that the United States chooses the path of justice and peace.Hmmmm.......Obey......or else.Hmmmm……Is this the same Prince Turki al-Faisal that met with Osama Bin laden in in June 2001 in a hospital in Dubai?Prince Turki Al Faisal had confirmed meetings with the Bin Laden Group and Osama bin Laden himself, several times in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan before he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994. In July 1998, as the lawsuit said, Al Faisal met Taliban leaders in Kandahar, Afghanistan and reached agreement on fresh aid from Riyad. “Prince Turki also promised to provide oil and generous financial assistance to both the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. After the meeting, 400 new pick-up trucks arrived in Kandahar for the Taliban, still bearing Saudi Arabia license plates.Read the full story here.

GOP Rep. Peter King To Testify Before British Parliament On Muslim Radicalization.(AFP)Washington - Republican Representative Peter King will become the first member of the US Congress to testify before a British Parliamentary hearing this week when he talks to MPs in London about Muslim radicalization, his office said.King, who chairs the key House Committee on Homeland Security, will testify in London on Tuesday about the radicalization of Muslims in US communities and the west, his office said Monday.The House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs has launched an inquiry entitled the “Roots of Violent Radicalisation,” similar to a line of inquiry King has taken in US House hearings.According to researchers from both the US Congress and the House of Commons, King will be the first member of Congress to testify before a parliamentary hearing, his office said.“While I have consistently stated the overwhelming majority of Muslim-Americans are outstanding people, the reality is that radicalization within the Muslim-American community by Al-Qaeda and its affiliates is a real threat to the security of our homeland,” King said in a statement.“I am honored to have been invited” to the parliamentary hearing, he said, noting that “as our vital ally, the United Kingdom, struggles with this same threat within its own borders.”In a statement, British MP Keith Vaz, who launched the Home Affairs Committee inquiry, said he was “delighted” King had accepted the invitation to testify.Read the full story here.

Report: Turkey to defuse Israeli Navy weapons.(Ynet).While Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to arrive in Egypt for a historic visit, daily newspaper Sabah on Monday reported that the Turkish Navy is preparing to deploy three warships in the Mediterranean Sea, in order to "safeguard the freedom of navigation." According to a report, Turkish navy echelons decided that if one of its ships crosses paths with an Israeli vessel outside of the latter's territorial waters, it will be instructed to come within 100 meters of the ship and neutralize its weapons system.Over the weekend, Erdogan ruffled feathers in Israel after he was quoted as saying that Turkish warships will protect boats carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza moving forward. "Turkish warships, in the first place, are authorized to protect our ships that carry humanitarian aid to Gaza," Erdogan was quoted as saying. "From now on, we will not let these ships to be attacked by Israel, as what happened with the Freedom Flotilla.The next day, Ankara issued a clarification, claiming the published quotes failed to correctly interpret Erdogan's intention."It appeared as if we were offering to have warships escort every aid vessel. This is not true. Turkey will defend the rights of its citizens only when Israel chooses to intervene and prevent free movement in international waters," an official source said.Hmmmm.....Does all this happen with Obama's and Clinton's their approval in view of the frequent contacts with Turkey?Read the full story here.

Egypt threatens to use live rounds in security crackdown.(Guardian).Egyptian authorities have detained a further 92 people and vowed to use live ammunition to protect key buildings following the storming of the Israeli embassy last week, which left three protesters dead and provoked the worst crisis in Israel-Egypt relations for a generation."We won't allow anyone to attack the interior ministry or any police station," the interior minister, Mansour al-Essawy, told state TV. "According to the law, we will resist … If there is a danger to a building or those present inside the building, we will confront with bullets."The latest crackdown brings the total number of arrests from Friday's protests to 130, and comes as Turkey's prime minister prepares to fly into the Egyptian capital on Monday night, to begin a four-day tour of north Africa.Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is embroiled in his own diplomatic row with Israel over the killing of pro-Palestinian Turkish activists by Israeli soldiers on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara aid flotilla ship last year, will address the Arab League on Tuesday. He is expected to outline Turkey's new "regional foreign policy vision", promoting closer ties with revolutionary Arab countries and sidelining their one-time ally Israel.The trip will involve high-level talks with the de facto Egyptian leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and the interim prime minister, Essam Sharaf, with discussions focused on the forthcoming Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN, which both countries support, and the development of closer business links between the two nations. Turkey's trade with the Arab world has increased six-fold under Erdogan's rule – an indication of the country's shifting diplomatic and economic priorities in the Middle East.Erdogan's rhetoric is likely to resonate strongly in post-Mubarak Egypt, where anger has been mounting in recent weeks over Israel's blockade of Gaza and a recent border incident that left six Egyptian soldiers dead at the hands of Israeli military forces.The latest developments have left Egypt's military junta in a tricky position, as it seeks to appease public anger while reassuring foreign allies that it will carry on meeting its international obligations under the Camp David peace treaty with Israel.Friday's clashes in and around the Israeli embassy come at a critical time for Egypt, as the trial of the former president Hosni Mubarak gathers pace and preparations continue for the country's first democratic elections in November. On Sunday, Tantawi rejected a summons to give evidence at Mubarak's court case, claiming he was too busy dealing with the ongoing security situation in the capital.Tantawi is now scheduled to attend the trial in late September, along with several other key witnesses including Mubarak's former spy chief and vice-president, Omar Suleiman, the army's chief of staff, Sami Anan, and the current and former interior ministers. The judge has declared that testimony will be given in private, with television cameras barred from the courtroom.Hmmmm.....Erdogan escalating the situation in the Middle East ,looking for war with Israel, all actions against the UN Charter.Read the full story here.

Saadi Qaddafi flees to Niger; Libyans prepare to form transitional government.(AlArabiya).One of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s sons, Saadi Qaddafi, arrived Sunday in Niger, a government spokesman said, as the National Transitional Council says a transition government will be formed within 10 days.“Today, September 11, a patrol of the Nigerien armed forces intercepted a convoy in which was found one of Qaddafi’s sons,” Marou Amadou said.It was Saadi Qaddafi, “the footballer,” said Amadou, who is also Niger’s justice minister. “At this moment the convoy is en route to Agadez (northern Niger). The convoy could arrive in Niamey between now and tomorrow,” he added.Saadi, 38, the third of Qaddafi’s seven sons, is known as a playboy who renounced a football career in 2004 to join the army, where he led an elite unit.Niger vowed Friday to respect international commitments if wanted Libyans entered its territory, and confirmed that three Qaddafi-era generals, including his air force chief, al-Rifi Ali Al-Sharif, had arrived in Agadez.Niamey has confirmed allowing in a dozen Qaddafi aides, including his internal security chief Mansour Daw, for “humanitarian reasons”.They are being held under house arrest in Niamey, in a tightly guarded state-owned villa on the banks of the Niger river.Sources said more Qaddafi loyalists in a dozen vehicles arrived in Agadez Friday, escorted by Nigerien troops.Niamey has denied that Qaddafi himself was on its soil.Saadi Qaddafi said on August 21 he was ready to give himself up “if my surrender stops the spilling of blood.”Officials of Libya's new ruling council gave assurances at the time that his life would be safe if he gave himself up.The whereabouts of Muammar Qaddafi and his pre-revolution heir apparent Seif al-Islam remain unknown since the fall of Tripoli last month.The International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the two men and other Qaddafi loyalists for alleged crimes against humanity.Meanwhile, the deputy chief of the National Transitional Council told reporters that a new transitional government will be formed in Libya within 10 days.“A new government will be formed within one week to ten days,” said Mahmud Jibril, who serves as the “prime minister” of the NTC, the political wing of the rebellion that overthrew strongman Qaddafi.“This new government will include representatives from different regions in Libya,” Jibril said.Rebel forces are still “in the process of liberating Libya, and revolutionary combatant are still on the fronts,” Jibril added, referring in particular to Bani Walid and Sirte, where regime loyalists are still holding out.He said that another government will be formed once “Libya is liberated.”Jibril also hailed the “liberation of Tripoli without bloodshed” last month.“We were expecting a bloodbath, but this was prevented by the maturity of the revolutionaries who were able to secure the capital,” he said.Read the full story here.

Gay Iranians launch online campaign.(Ynet).Video - The gay community in Iran has launched a Facebook campaign against the Iranian regime that views their sexual identity a crime punishable by death. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Iranians have posted videos of themselves online in an attempt to tell the world about the discrimination they suffer from, the Guardian has reported.Despite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim in 2007 by which there are no gays in Iran, so far, over 1,600 have joined the page, titled 'We are everywhere'. Iranians who posted their stories online made efforts to hide their identity fearing they would be exposed, while some Iranian expatriates spoke freely of their sexual preferences."As a gay person, my biggest problem in Iran is that I cannot be my real self," said an Iranian gay man, only identified as Mehdi, who has posted a video online from inside Iran. "I always have to play a role. I always have to suppress my own existence and part of my identity and hide myself in fear from the society and potential problems that I might face." In the video, Mehdi's face was only shown from the mouth down. "Like this video, I always have to hide a part of myself from others in my life," he said.In another video of a gay Iranian living outside of Iran, a man is seen filmed at chest level with his message written on paper towel. "I am an Iranian gay. I fear to show my real face, I fled Iran, I escaped from my own family, I was driven away from my country. Now, I am a gay refugee in Turkey and count the days, we are everywhere."As a neighboring country, Turkey serves as a refuge for many gay Iranians who escape from Iran through the mountains. However, they complain that they experience homophobic treatment in Turkey as well.Read and see the full story here.

Iran - Dr. Maleki’s letter to Ahmed Shaheed: I testify to 32 years of crime.(Persian2English).In a letter to Ahmad Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, Dr. Mohammad Maleki, the first president of Tehran University after the Islamic revolution, declared that he is ready to reveal the crimes he has witnessed over the past 32 years in Iran. Maleki was recently summoned to appear before the court.“I am ready to reveal the facts I have witnessed in the Velayat-e Faghih prisons and pay the price for it.”An excerpt of the letter: “I am one of tens of thousands of Iranians whose human rights have been frequently violated by the authoritarian and despotic rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past 32 years, and I have witnessed many crimes in Iranian prisons.”The retired university professor added, “I shall testify how, during the 1980s, each night after being severely tortured, young prisoners and students, both male and female, were taken for execution by tens or hundreds. They walked toward their destiny while singing chants along the way.”Dr. Maleki mentioned instances of torture in the Islamic Republic prisons and said: “During this period I was treated in the cruelest ways possible, including: being lashed with a cable wire on the soles of my feet and other parts of my body; being hung from the ceiling; my head being smashed against the wall; and being punched and kicked, which led to my blindness in the left eye and my right wrist to break…and all other kinds of torture. The signs of some of these tortures are still evident on my body.”Read the full story here.

Relations with Israel and the Kurdish question.(HurriyetDaily).The rising tension between Turkey and Israel is not the only a problem of confrontational regional relations, but it may also have serious implications on domestic politics. All countries in the region used to manipulate anti-Israeli feelings as a useful tool to hide their authoritarian politics. Anti-Israeli rhetoric is not only the official discourse in Iran and Syria, but in all Arab countries, all sorts of regimes use this rhetoric to fill the gap of oppositionist energies. Moreover, it is also useful to suppress criticism by labeling it as an “Israeli conspiracy.” Now, as tension with Israel rises, Turkey seems to undergo a similar process. Many times, pro-government writers hint that any opposition to the present government may be related to the “Israeli lobby” since the new Turkish government policy dares to challenge Israel bravely.Recently, the conservative media started to portray the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, as an “Israeli pawn.” In the dark days of the 1990s, the PKK was portrayed as collaborating with Armenian ASALA and PKK members were often presented not as Kurds but as Armenians. In fact, it is an old and major problem to avoid recognizing the Kurdish problem in all its aspects. In the past, the main problem was not to differentiate Kurds and the PKK and justify suppression of Kurds as fighting with PKK. Now it is the opposite, now the PKK has considerable social support, but this time the Turkish state and government want to differentiate the PKK to justify suppression and avoid any chance of negotiation for a peaceful solution.Those who portray the PKK as an Israeli pawn either must be seriously deluded concerning the Kurdish problem or must be thinking about killing two birds with one stone by despising Israel and the PKK at the same time. Nevertheless, such rhetoric risks the democracy in Turkey in two ways. Firstly, it further hinders chances of political negotiations for a democratic solution and social peace, by “evilizing” the Kurdish enemy. Secondly, the anti-Israeli feeling and its anti-Semitic implications are being enforced with the rhetoric of “war on terror” against the PKK.Anti-Semitism is not as popular in Turkey as it is in many Muslim countries, yet the danger exists. Unfortunately, most Turkish intellectuals are not concerned, but there is a tradition of anti-Semitism especially among conservative circles (and now among secular nationalist circles) in Turkey. Many intellectuals define anti-Semitism only as “hostility toward Jews” and underestimate the fact that anti-Semitism is also a kind of “reaction toward modernity,” so therefore an essential aspect of almost all authoritarian politics.When anti-Kurdish feelings meet anti-Semitism, one must say farewell to democracy. I hope we do not come to this point.Hmmmm......Farewell.Read the full story here.

US is considering Turkey’s request to base a fleet of Predator drones on Turkish soil to use in the fight against terror.(HurriyetDaily).Turkish officials said Sunday that they were in talks with the United States over deployment of a fleet of Predator drones on its soil, an unmanned aircraft system seen crucially important in Turkey’s fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, confirming a Washington Post report.“Our interest in acquiring Predator drones is known,” a Turkish diplomatic source told the Hürriyet Daily News on Sunday, without giving details of the content of the negotiations between the two allies.According to the Washington Post, Washington is still considering Turkey’s request to base a fleet of drones on Turkish soil. Citing an unnamed senior military official, the Post said the Obama administration has not made a decision on the Turkish request.Turkey officially requested acquisition of six MQ-1 and MQ-6 Predator drones from the U.S. in mid-2009 but the request faced opposition from the U.S. Congress over Ankara’s policies regarding Iran and Israel. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raised the issue during a meeting with U.S. President Barak Obama during a meeting in Canada in 2010 but what he heard about was congress’s negative attitude toward Turkey.The U.S. military has flown the unarmed Predators from Iraqi bases since 2007 and shared the planes’ surveillance video with Turkey as part of a secretive joint crackdown on the PKK. Unless a new home for the Predators is found, however, the counterterrorism partnership could cease by Dec. 31, when all U.S. forces are scheduled to withdraw from Iraq.Turkey asked the Obama administration this year to relocate the Predators to Incirlik Air Base, a joint U.S.-Turkish military installation, according to a senior U.S. military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks have not been made public. “They want to base them in Turkey and allow us to fly them across the border into Iraq,” the official said.It’s unclear whether U.S. or Turkish officials are seeking formal permission from Iraq to continue the drone flights, or whether Baghdad would simply turn a blind eye to the Predators when they cross into northern Iraq.If Iraq objected to the drone flights as a violation of its sovereignty, the unmanned aircraft could hover in Turkish airspace and use cameras to peer miles across the border. There is little to prevent the Predators from making incursions, however; Iraq has only a fledgling air force to patrol its skies.U.S. military officials favor the drone agreement with Turkey as a way to prevent conflict with the PKK from spiraling out of control. They say U.S. cooperation has restrained Turkey from launching bigger offensives into northern Iraq to try to wipe out the PKK.Hmmmm.....Goodbye Geneva convention....Judge, Jury and executioner?Would be usefull against Israel as well?Read the full story here.

‘Palestinians wait for Turkish PM’.(HurriyetDaily).The head of the Palestinian administration in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said they were making preparations for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s possible visit to Gaza and that the people of Palestine want the chance to show how much they love Turkey.In an interview in Gaza, Haniyeh defined the U.N. report on Israel’s deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship that killed nine Turks, as “terrible.”“The report has legitimized massacring Palestinians and the piracy staged on the Mavi Marmara aid ship. As the Palestinian people and their government, we do not accept the report and support Turkey’s position in not accepting it either,” said Haniyeh calling on the U.N. to bring certain Israeli generals to court for war crimes.“With efforts made in the region, Turkey tried to show that the superior power in the region is the Arabs and the Islamic world,” Haniyeh said. “As the people of Palestine, we support every step Ankara takes to end the embargo on Gaza.”Turkey’s downgrading of diplomatic relations and suspension of all military relations with Israel was a great support to the Palestinian people, Haniyeh added.Hmmmm....Anyone taking a bet Erdogan will show up in Gaza?Read the full story here.

Related - Gaza is no ‘national cause’.(HurriyetDaily).By Kadri Gürsel.We, in fact, are discussing neither about Israel nor about Gaza but about Turkey. Israel and Gaza constitute not the subject but the object of the discussion.The subject of the discussion is Turkey’s torn identity and her tattered spirit.If we are looking for a national cause, we could hardly find one that is truer and more urgently in need of a solution. After all, the cause is about who defines what constitutes “national.” This cause is about our future. This cause is related to whether Turkey will emerge with a new social contract through a period marked by a clash of values and whether it will be able to move ahead without being physically fragmented.Will Turkey succeed in advancing its secular democracy and spread it to the masses while repairing its democratic roof? Or, in the end, will it be a country that is neither secular nor democratic? Personal rights and liberties, the rule of law, the freedom of faith, the liberty of expression, press freedoms and pluralism...These constitute our true national cause; our cause lies within ourselves.Now, let’s look at this issue from the point of view of how Turkey is defined by whether Gaza constitutes a national cause or not...If you define Turkey and her foreign policy within the parameters of the values of either classical or neo – Islamist ideology...And if you happen to be looking at Gaza through the prism of the “Sunni Islamic Ummah,” then it is natural for you to see a “national cause” or even the subject of a “jihad” here.In that case, it is also natural for your foreign enemy number one to be none other than Israel.Your despotic and anti-democratic political culture would also easily allow you to see as the “enemy within” those who criticize you for the true meaning of your perspective on Gaza. In other words, those people represent for you “the advocates of the archenemy Israel,” “those who fill the vacuum left behind by Israel’s ambassador.” That is how a vital debate that needs to be conducted within the framework of fairness and mutual respect for our democracy’s future gets drowned by means of such fascistic style. It is also because you look at your own citizens through the prism of the Sunni Islamic Ummah that you see “sectarian solidarity” behind dissident and contradictory views over Syria that require democratic tolerance. Those who are not of your own sect, on the other hand, or those whom you do not count from among the ummah are also equal citizens of this country whose rights are constitutionally ensured.Do you not end up dividing your own countrymen and countrywomen, and sow discord among them by throwing sectarian discrimination into the whole affair?Speaking of countrymen and countrywomen... They live on this “country.”Had you looked at Gaza not through the prism of the ummah, but through the prism of the country, you were not going to see any “national causes.”And you were not going to attempt moves that could incur great economic, political and military costs that also include the potential for armed conflict with another country’s army.For those who see Gaza through the prism of the “country,” no direct, vital, clear or present threat exists toward the country’s soil, borders and the security and well being of the people who live on it.Seeing the problem of Gaza not as a “national cause” but as a humanitarian tragedy experienced by a people living under embargoes and blockades, and who are close to us both geographically and historically, as well as culturally, would not require Turkey to get involved in this matter anyway.If you ask about the cause of the nine activists massacred by Israel...It is the obligation of the Turkish Republic to settle the account of her citizens killed in international waters by the security forces of another state by utilizing to the full all rights and authority granted upon her by international laws.“Nine martyrs”... Agreed.But I would also remind you of our armed citizens who roam the mountains of this country wearing a different uniform than that of the state and martyr more than nine people every week, as well as the cause of our citizens wearing official uniforms who kill just as many of these citizens of ours as a “requisite for being a state.” And that a certain section of our society sees those killed by the state as “martyrs”.I also believe that far greater causes could befall upon this country as you consume this nation’s energies and resources on causes that are, in fact, nonexistent, without solving this real cause through this country’s prism.Kadri Gürsel is a columnist for daily Milliyet in which this piece was originally published Sunday.Hmmm.....Hear,hear.Read the full story here.

Video - Zaid Hamid’s “Final Call” to Hindus – Convert Or Get Killed!(Guppu).In the latest video series of self proclaimed defence analyst Zaid Hamid, he is seen giving a final call to Hindus to convert to Islam. He also tells Hindus not to blame him for the consequences. So what’s claimed to be a peaceful call to Islam, seems more like a threat.He says this is the message to be conveyed to all the Hindus and “Hindu Pandits” who deliberately hide the true message of Islam from the masses. He also equates Hindus with the Jews. Zaid Hamid openly threats the Hindus that if they don’t convert and accept Islam, they will be responsible for their ill-fate themselves.He pretended to be speaking on behalf of all the Muslims and acted as the supreme leader of the Muslim ummah.Hmmmm....."The religion of peace".Read the full story here.

Turkey - PM Erdogan says flotilla raid was 'cause for war'.(HurriyetDaily).Turkey's prime minister has said Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year was "cause for war" but that his country showed "patience" and refrained from taking any action. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Al-Jazeera television in a recent interview that the Israeli attack that killed nine activists occurred in international waters and was therefore "unlawful." His comments were carried by Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency late Sunday. Erdoğan said "It is a cause for war, but we decided to act in line with Turkey's grandeur and showed patience." Israel insists its naval commandos acted in self-defense after being attacked by some of the activists. A U.N. report into the raid said Israel's naval blockade was legitimate but that it used "excessive and unreasonable" force.Hmmmmm.....Now that i control the Army lets go to war?"Get Turkey out of NATO now!Read the full story here.

36% of Arabs in Al-Arabiya TV Survey Justify 9/11.(Memri).Al-Arabiya TV, in collaboration with a British research institute, conducted an online survey on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Out of the 220,000 Arabs who participated, 23% believed Al-Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 attacks and 26% did not. 36% said that the attacks were justified and 38% that they were not. 16% considered the assassination of Osama bin Laden a criminal act, 48% did not, and 36% were undecided.Hmmmm......Yup It's 'community service'Read the full story here.

9/11: 10 Years Later LIVE - Here.New York Daily News reporters are spread out across the city to bring you live coverage of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks which forever changed our city - but not our spirit.

Obama and Clinton's new 'global counter-terrorism forum': No Israel.(IsraelMatzav).This tells you all you need to know about how the Obama administration 'fights' terrorism. It's from the State Department web site (Hat Tip: Shosh). As stated in President Obama’s National Counterterrorism Strategy, the U.S. is committed to strengthening the global counterterrorism (CT) architecture in a manner that complements and reinforces the CT work of existing multilateral bodies. The Administration’s signature initiative in this area is the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), which is intended to ensure the necessary international architecture is in place to address 21st century challenges.The U.S. proposed the creation of the GCTF to address the evolving terrorist threat in a way that would bring enduring benefits by helping frontline countries and affected regions acquire the means to deal with threats they face. It is based on a recognition that the U.S. alone cannot eliminate every terrorist or terrorist organization. Rather, the international community must come together to assist countries as they work to confront the terrorist threat.

Who: The 30 founding members of the GCTF are: Algeria, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Structure: The GCTF will consist of a strategic-level Coordinating Committee, co-chaired initially by the United States and Turkey; five thematic and regional expert-driven working groups; and a small administrative unit that the U.S. will host for the first few years.

Notice who is missing: NO ISRAEL! And instead we get Turkey - whose government supported the IHH, which sent the terror ship Mavi Marmara to break Israel's weapons blockade against Gaza.I wonder why they didn't include Iran and Syria while they were at it. They're not much worse than Turkey.And note all those other countries which have cozy relationships with Hamas, Hezbullah and/or al-Qaeda.Are you outraged yet? Outraged enough to go to the polls and vote this administration OUT of office?Hmmmm.......Do they consider Israel as 'terrorists?"By their fruits you will know them".Read the full story here.

OMG !You can’t make this disappear, New York Times editors.This is Paul Krugman’s op-ed for the tenth anniversary of 9/11.(HumanEvents.

This is Paul Krugman’s op-ed for the tenth anniversary of 9/11

The Years of Shame

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?

Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. Te atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani​, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.

“I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.” Of course not. What a miserable, stinking coward. He was too busy pounding out this sick little screed to even spell-check it.As of this writing, the link to Krugman’s post is still working. The New York Times will be strongly tempted to pull it down. The editors should resist that temptation. We have screen captures, folks. You can’t make this disappear, or pretend Krugman didn’t say it. You must respond to this, not attempt to erase it. Paul Krugman should have been summarily dismissed after he blamed the Tucson shootings on his political enemies. The Times didn’t apologize to the American people for their horrific editorial judgment in allowing him to write those pieces, and fire him when they should have. This is the result.You are now at a decision point, editors of the New York Times. If Paul Krugman still works for you on Monday morning, you endorse every damned word he said in this piece. You will be endorsing the cowardice of this drive-by slander artist, whose failure as a human being exceeds even his miserable failure as an “economist.” Your choice, New York Times. Your move. Your honor, decency, and integrity. Your consequences.Read and see the full story here.

Giuliani assails Obama on terrorism, Afghanistan.(StraightTimes).WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, speaking for his fellow Republicans ten years after the 9/11 attacks, denounced President Barack Obama's handling of national security on Saturday. Mr Giuliani, giving the party's weekly address, notably blasted Mr Obama's decision to withdraw some 33,000 United States (US) troops from Afghanistan by Sept 2012 and bring home all combat forces by 2014. 'Perhaps the most dangerous impulse we've developed since 9/11 is impatience demonstrated by the calls to put our armed forces on timetables,' said the former mayor, hailed for his take-charge response to the attacks. Mr Giuliani called Mr Obama's policy, a frequent target of Republican ire, part of 'a dangerous historical pattern' of 'minimising the dangers we face and that's led to catastrophes in the past.' 'American security requires a long-term military presence in the part of the world where people and organisations are plotting to kill us,' he said, calling for US forces to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan until they have 'eliminated' the threat. Read the full story here.

Police Search For stolen vans from a World Trade Center site contractor, Trucks.(Fox) - Two vans stolen from a World Trade Center site contractor and a third taken from a storage facility in New Jersey were being specially investigated by the police department Saturday, after the federal government's tip of a possible car bomb on the 9/11 anniversary. Police in Washington D.C. were also searching for stolen vans.None of the thefts were connected to a specific plot, but had unusual circumstances above the average stolen vehicle, authorities said.One of the vans, a white Econoline, was stolen from Liberty Storage, a self-storage facility in Jersey City, N.J. on Aug. 21 and had Oklahoma plates, police said. Thieves cut the phone lines, alarms and took with them surveillance video, in what could be an extensive effort to cover their tracks in a way that seemed different from the average grand larceny.The other two, dark green Chevy vans, were stolen Sept. 1 and Sept. 2 from Tully Construction, Co. Contractors, which has been involved in recovery work at the site and is currently doing roadwork on West St. near 1 World Trade Center.Read the full story here.

Prayer Flash Mob at 911 Anniversary.(Goosh).by BobFox.Please help us with this as we need to spread the word quickly…ALL Attendee’s at the 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial, when Mayor Bloomberg begins to speak, EVERYONE WILL BEGIN TO SING “AMAZING GRACE.”Please click a link below to copy the lyrics. Make extra copies to hand to the people next to you.They can keep clergy out, but they can’t silence everyone!!!Please share this via FaceBook, Twitter, and all social media for this Sunday’s event.Follow us on twitter @911GOD.Read the full story here.

Are President Obama’s Actions Hostile to Jews and Israel?(IMRA).By Morton A. Klein, National President.Dr. Daniel Mandel, Director, Center for Middle East Policy.Zionist Organization of America.

Is President Obama hostile to Jews and Israel? Let’s look at the evidence. Last week, the Obama Administration issued talking points for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, where it referred to those struck by terrorism “whether in New York or Nairobi, Bali or Belfast, Mumbai or Manila, or Lahore or London.” Conspicuously absent was the name of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Sderot, which have been hit by terrorists, not once, but numerous times.As a single instance, this omission might be unremarkable. In fact, however, omitting mention of Israel fits a pattern. When running for President, then-Senator Obama referred in his July 2008 Berlin speech to the need to “dismantle the [terrorist] networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York.” Again, no Israel.It seems hard to believe that these omissions could be anything other than intentional. After all, Israel has been a primary target of terrorists throughout the past decade. Almost 2,000 Israelis have been murdered by terrorists in this period and over 10,000 maimed or disfigured. In per capita terms, far more Israelis have been murdered by terrorists than Americans were murdered in 9/11.Obama also omits Israel in other contexts. Thus, when Haiti was struck by a calamitous earthquake in January 2010, Israel’s relief efforts were exceptional, only matched by those of the United States, and were singled out for praise by former President Clinton. However, in praising these relief efforts, Obama omitted any mention of Israel, saying only that “help continues to flow in, not just from the United States but from Brazil, Mexico, Canada, France, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, among others.”While Obama has more or less consistently failed to hold accountable or penalize the PA for incitement to violence against Israel, he has been emphatic and repetitive attacking Jewish housing projects in eastern Jerusalem as an obstacle to peace. His Administration has used the terms “condemn,” an “insult” and an “affront” when expressing disagreement with Israel on this issue, terms never used about other allies.That Obama blames Israel, not the Palestinians, for the absence of peace is obvious. In a January 2010 interview, despite Israel’s acceptance in-principle of a Palestinian state, readiness to negotiate and instituting an unprecedented 10-month Jewish construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, Obama said Israel had made no “bold gestures.”In a March 2011 meeting with Jewish leaders (attended by Mort Klein), Obama contended that “Israel’s [Palestinian] partner is sincere in wanting a peaceful settlement,” while asking his Jewish interlocutors to “speak to your Israeli friends and relatives and search your souls to determine how badly do you really want peace … Israelis think this peace process is overrated.”Note also the contrast between his holiday messages to Jews and to Muslims. In his Rosh Hashanah message last year, Obama only once referred to ‘Jews,’ not once to ‘Judaism,’ promoted a Palestinian state, and never mentioned the extraordinary contributions of Jews to the U.S.In contrast, in his August 2010 Ramadan Message, Obama referred to ‘Muslims’ six times and to ‘Islam’ twice, stated that “American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country,” and praised “Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings … a faith known for great diversity and racial equality.” Here, Obama, made no reference to what Muslims must do to achieve peace with Israel.There are many other indicators of Obama evincing discomfort around Jewish matters. When, in May 2010, Obama signed the Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act, he did not mention that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, was beheaded by Islamist terrorists because he was a Jew and that he was forced to state in the video recorded of his gruesome murder that he was an American Jew. Instead, Obama merely referred to Pearl’s “loss.”And let’s not forget Obama’s June 2009 Cairo speech, in which he compared the circumstances of Palestinians under Israeli rule to Jews under the Nazis and blacks under Apartheid. Nor his September 2009 UN speech, in which Obama “couple[d] unwavering commitment to Israel” with Israel “respecting the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians.”These incidents, some important, some less so, have assumed a troubling pattern. They suggest that President Obama has a distaste or even hostility towards Jews and Israel. But should we be surprised? He spent twenty years absorbing the anti-Israel sermons of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, whom Obama has called a “great man,” his “friend” and “mentor.”Hmmmm......"You shall know them by their fruits.Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?Matthew 7:16."But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.James 2:18.Read the full story here.

Obamas 911 Statement To Global US Embassies: ‘The United States is Not and Never Will Be At War With Islam’.(Vinienco).On this 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, we remember that 9/11 was not only an attack on the United States; it was an attack on the world and on the entire humanity and hopes that we share.We remember that among the nearly 3,000 innocent people lost that day were hundreds of citizens from more than 90 nations. They were men and women, young and old, of many races and faiths. On this solemn anniversary we join with their families and nations in honoring their memory.We remember with gratitude how 10 years ago the world came together as one. Around the globe, entire cities came to a standstill for moments of silence. People offered their prayers in churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship. And those of us in the United States will never forget how people in every corner of the world stood with us in solidarity in candlelight vigils and among the seas of flowers placed at our embassies.We remember that in the weeks after 9/11, we acted as an international community. As part of a broad coalition, we drove al Qaeda from its training camps in Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban, and gave the Afghan people a chance to live free from terror. However, the years that followed were difficult and the spirit of global partnership we felt after 9/11 frayed.As President, I’ve worked to renew the global cooperation we need to meet the full breath of global challenges that we face. Through a new era of engagement, we’ve forged partnerships with nations and peoples based on mutual interest and mutual respect.As an international community, we have shown that terrorists are no match for the strength and resilience of our citizens. I’ve made it clear that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. Rather, with allies and partners we are united against al Qaeda, which has attacked dozens of countries and killed tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children, the vast majority of them Muslims. This week, we remember all the victims of al Qaeda and the courage and resilience with which their families and fellow citizens have persevered, from the Middle East to Europe, from Africa to Asia.Working together, we have disrupted al Qaeda plots, eliminated Osama bin Laden and much of his leadership, and put al Qaeda on the path to defeat. Meanwhile, people across the Middle East and North Africa are showing that the surest path to justice and dignity is the moral force of nonviolence, not mindless terrorism and violence. It is clear that violent extremists are being left behind and that the future belongs to those who want to build, not destroy.To nations and people seeking a future of peace and prosperity, you have a partner in the United States. For even as we confront economic challenges at home, the United States will continue to play a unique leadership role in the world.As we remove the rest of our troops from Iraq and transfer responsibility in Afghanistan, we will support Iraqis and Afghans in their efforts to deliver security and opportunity for their people. In the Arab world and beyond, we will stand up for the dignity and universal rights of all human beings.Around the world, we will continue the hard work of pursuing peace, promoting the development that lifts people from poverty, and advancing the food security, health and good governance that unleashes the potential of citizens and societies.At the same time, we have recommitted ourselves to living our values at home. As a nation of immigrants, the United States welcomes people from every country and culture. These newest Americans like all the innocent victims we lost ten years ago remind us that despite any differences of race or ethnicity, background or belief, we are all bound together by the common hope that we can make the world a better place for this and future generations. That must be the legacy of those we have lost.Those who attacked us on 9/11 wanted to drive a wedge between the United States and the world. They failed. On this 10th anniversary, we are united with our friends and partners in remembering all those we have lost in this struggle. In their memory, we reaffirm the spirit of partnership and mutual respect that we need to realize a world where all people live in dignity, freedom and peace.Hmmmmm........Report: Islamists Drive 75 Percent of Plots Against U.S.Read the full 'story' here.

Ten Years After 9/11: The Jihadis Are Winning The War.(BigPeace).A decade after the jihadi strikes against America’s military and financial centers at the hands of al-Qaida, the question remains: Have we won the war?In the ongoing, debate, we see two camps. One stating that we were defeating the enemy until Washington changed direction three years ago, and another boasting that America was losing the war until three years ago when a change of direction brought victory in sight.We surged against the Taliban but we didn’t help the people surge politically via massive education efforts. Now we are doing the unthinkable: negotiating with the Taliban for Afghanistan’s future.

The Arab Spring: Before it even started, the Arab Spring’s true democratic forces were already abandoned by Washington. Back in 2008, Hezbollah invaded Beirut and crumbled the Cedars Revolution of 2005 under heavy silence from both the Bush administration and Congress.The next year, the Obama administration turned its back on the opposition in Tehran. Civil societies in the Arab world tried to revolt next. In early 2011, secular youth rose and brought down the Mubarak regime but Washington preferred to empower the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and their Islamist colleagues in Tunisia.

In Libya the administration joined the fray against Moammar Gadhafi only to eventually partner with the country’s Islamists. In Syria Washington’s hesitates between the Baath and the Brotherhood ignores democratic reformers. The same alignment is projected for Yemen, Bahrain, and other Arab countries. The democrats of the Arab Spring are losing.

Iraq: Managing the country without a strategy to confront the ayatollahs and Bashar’s regimes was a mistake. As in Afghanistan, work half done in Iraq backfired. Billions were spent and huge human sacrifices were made without enabling the Iraqi society to rise against the multiple anti-democracy forces.Now a catastrophic policy of abandoning Iraq’s democrats to the region’s Islamists, during the past three years seems to be what we’re left with.Yes Saddam is gone, and there is a multiparty system in Iraq. But Iran controls the Shia militias that are devouring the government and two-thirds of the country; the Salafi Islamists of the Sunni areas are pushing back against the moderates; the Kurds are encircled by three threatening regimes; and the Christians and other minorities are relentlessly persecuted.

Iran: The present administration has dangerously engaged with Tehran, allowing the Khomeinist regime to expand its threats in all directions: Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, Eastern Arabia, Northern Yemen and other continents. None of the U.S.’ policies, including sanctions, have stopped Iran’s development of missiles and its frenetic pace to equip them with nukes. And when the Green revolution exploded, we let the Pasdaran take back the streets unquestioned.Some really believed that the years following the attacks have brought the free world and democracy to an inch from victory. Others among us believe that thanks to today’s policies we are finally better than ever before.Sad to say at this anniversary, but both views are wrong. We weren’t close to strategic victories some five years ago and we are far from defeating the jihadists today. This sober assessment isn’t for domestic politics consumers, far from it.

Here are some realities:

Afghanistan: Bringing down the Taliban regime was a smashing victory for the U.S., NATO and the Afghan people particularly for women and minorities.Defending the country against the return of the jihadi militias and containing their incursions from inside Pakistan’s enclaves were the right strategic choices. But the U.S. and NATO failed to engage civil society groups, women, and secular wings to help launch a democratic revolution in the country instead of spending billions on asphalt, construction, and futile unproductive projects.

Al-Qaida: The long relentless campaign against the top entity of the jihadists bore results over 10 years. They lost the sole regime that backed them openly in Kabul, retreated to Pakistan, lost more of their commanders by the years, and eventually lost their leader Osama in 2011. But multiple other tentacles of the organization have grown bigger and longer in reach.Still operating and killing in AFPAK, franchises opened in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, North Africa, and their cells hit in India, Russia, and Europe. Al-Qaida today is 10 times larger in global reach than the old one headed by bin Laden.

Homeland security: The terrorists who brought down the twin towers were foreign-born aliens who penetrated America’s defenses killing thousands. However their ideology penetrated America, producing homegrown cells. Moreover, a more lethal type is expanding within our borders: the jihadi lone wolves. No spectacular acts since 2001 but an army is brewing inside the country.The U.S. is losing on all these fronts, and so are democracies and free people around the world. The real debate should be about what is being missed. We must focus on the enemy’s ideology.Unfortunately over the past 10 years, Washington and its companions in Europe have lost the mother of all wars: the war of ideas. If American leadership persists in dodging the ideological battle with the jihadists, by 2020 not only we would have missed a precious opportunity with the Arab Spring but most likely lost a vital shot at bolstering national security.Dr Walid Phares is the author of “The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad,” and “The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East.” He advises members of Congress and the European Parliament.Read the full story here.

Five civilians killed and at least 77 NATO troops injured in Taliban truck bomb attack on coalition base in Afghanistan.(AlJazeera).At least five Afghan civilians have been killed and 77 NATO personnel wounded in a truck bomb attack on a base in eastern Afghanistan, according to the military coalition.The injured were evacuated to medical facilities or were treated at the scene of the blast in Wardak province late on Saturday, NATO said in a statement.US forces are responsible for security in Wardak, according to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) website.The attack, which came on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated an explosive device inside a truck carrying firewood, NATO added.No coalition forces were killed in the attack on the combat outpost, according to the statement.The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the Reuters news agency reported.The attack came hours after the group vowed to keep fighting US forces in Afghanistan until all foreign troops have left the country and stressed that their group had no role in the 9/11 attacks.In a statement emailed to media, the Taliban accused the United States of using the attacks as a pretext to invade Afghanistan and said the international community was responsible for killing thousands of Afghans during the invasion and ensuing occupation.The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, in pursuit of Osama bin Laden, the late al-Qaeda leader who masterminded the US attacks, who had found refuge under the Taliban.Bin Laden at the time was living in Afghanistan, where al-Qaeda had training camps from which it planned attacks against the US and other countries.Read the full story here.

Euro-Zone Scenarios - German Finance Minister Prepares for Possible Greek Bankruptcy.(Spiegel).German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who is reportedly doubtful that the country can be saved from bankruptcy, is preparing for the possibility of Greek insolvency. Officials in his ministry are currently reviewing scenarios for handling such a situation, exploring what it might mean for the rest of the euro zone. Under the first scenario for a Greek bankruptcy, the country would remain in the euro zone. Under the other, Athens would abandon the common currency and reintroduce the drachma. The European bailout mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), is playing a key role in those considerations. Soon the EFSF is expected to be given new powers agreed to by European leaders at a special euro crisis summit in late July. Two instruments at the EFSF's disposal are at the forefront of the Finance Ministry's scenarios.

One of these key instruments would be credit lines provided to countries like Spain or Italy if investors stop lending them money after a Greek bankruptcy. If banks were forced to write off the billions in Greek government bonds on their books, they could become reliant on billions in rescue fund aid in numerous euro-zone countries. Both developments are to be expected in a Greek insolvency, regardless of whether the country exits the euro or not. Volker Bouffier, the governor of the state of Hesse, which is home to Germany's financial capital Frankfurt, is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, as is Schäuble. Bouffier is now urging that the possibility for countries to leave the euro zone be created quickly. Current European Union treaties provide no provisions for a country to abandon the currency. "If the savings and reform efforts of the Greek government aren't successful, then we need to ask the question of whether we need new rules to make it possible for a euro country to leave the currency union," Bouffier told SPIEGEL. Read the full story here.

Canadians with mental illnesses denied U.S. entry.(CBC).More than a dozen Canadians have told the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office in Toronto within the past year that they were blocked from entering the United States after their records of mental illness were shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.Lois Kamenitz, 65, of Toronto contacted the office last fall, after U.S. customs officials at Pearson International Airport prevented her from boarding a flight to Los Angeles on the basis of her suicide attempt four years earlier.Kamenitz says she was stopped at customs after showing her passport and asked to go to a secondary screening. There, a Customs and Border Protection officer told Kamenitz that he had information that police had attended her home in 2006.“I was really perturbed,” Kamenitz says. “I couldn’t figure out what he meant. And then it dawned on me that he was referring to the 911 call my partner made when I attempted suicide.”Kamenitz says she asked the officer how he had obtained her medical records.A document completed by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer says that at a secondary inspection at Pearson airport in Toronto, it was ascertained that Lois Kamenitz had 'attempted suicide in 2006,' and a medical clearance would be required for a further attempt to enter the United States. Sarah Bridge/CBC“That was the only thing I could think of,” she says. “But he said, no, he didn’t have my medical records but he did have a contact note from the police that [they] had attended my home.”The RCMP and U.S. law enforcement agencies provide reciprocal direct access to each other’s criminal databases in order to stem the flow of narcotics and criminal dealings into North America, according to the WikiLeaks cable.When asked about the sharing of police information for security purposes, Kamenitz says the government is “obviously not considering what the impact of that can be and how much that can alter a person’s life.”“Police may have attended my home,” says Kamenitz, “but it was not for a criminal matter; it was a medical emergency.”Kamenitz notes that suicide isn’t a criminal offence in either country.“It speaks to the myth we still hold,” Kamenitz says, “that people with a mental illness are violent criminals.”At less than five feet tall, with a debilitating form of arthritis that makes it impossible for her to complete daily tasks like cooking and dressing without assistance, Kamenitz says she is hardly a threat to U.S. Homeland Security.“I’ve been battling not only anxiety and depression but also chronic pain since my teen years,” Kamenitz explains. “I am not a criminal.”Kamenitz was eventually allowed to board a plane to Los Angeles, four days after missing her initial flight. But in order to do so, she had to submit her medical records to the U.S. and get clearance from a Homeland Security-approved doctor in Toronto, who charged her $250 for the service.Benson says the response from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers in Kamenitz's case was fairly typical. "Now that the note from her doctor is on her records," he says, "I wouldn't expect her to have any more problems."Included in the Homeland Security forms Kamenitz was required to fill out were questions about whether she had a history of substance abuse and whether she had diseases, such as AIDS or tuberculosis.“These are private and personal medical records that I’m now handing over to a foreign government,” she says.Stylianos says Canadians should be outraged that people’s mental health information is shared across the border.“It is an intensely private matter for many individuals,” he says.Stylianos says his organization is lobbying for this information not to be included in the CPIC database or shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of a routine border screening process.“Once that information gets into the American system, you can’t control it,” he says.According to the same diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, which included data from 2004 and 2005, Americans believed that despite the open database sharing, “Canada’s strict privacy laws” have limited the timely exchange of information between the two nations.In the 10 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the two countries have struggled to come to an agreement on how best to police the border.The administrations of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama are in talks over a perimeter security deal that would include further cross-border intelligence-sharing as part of a joint border security strategy.In an Aug. 29 news conference in Toronto, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters that the privacy rights of Canadians remain top-of-mind during discussions about cross-border law enforcement programs.“Our sovereignty cannot and will not be compromised,” he said.Hmmmm......."Illegal immigrants can stay...depressed Canadians a.k.a 'Crazy Canucks' don't enter?"Read the full story here.

Canadian Muslim Group Urges PM Harper to Apologize for Equating Islam With Extremism.(Vinienco).Canadian Muslim Group Urges PM Harper to Apologize for Equating Islam With Extremism: Prime Minister Stephen Harper must apologize for comments portraying Muslims as the single greatest threat to national security, the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada said Friday.The council issued a nationwide call for Muslims to speak out against the remarks, urging imams to condemn the statements in prayer gatherings and urging Canadians to send letters of protest to the Prime Minister’s Office.The call to action comes three days after Harper told CBC that “Islamicism” was the single most pressing threat to the country’s security, adding Canada’s intelligence service was mostly preoccupied with matters involving Islamic extremists.Harper’s statements are based on gross generalizations that unfairly malign an important demographic, the council said.“How can Mr. Harper associate Islam with radicalism and fanaticism? These are un-Islamic beliefs and behaviours,” the council said in a statement.“Canadian Muslims do not recognize any person or a group as ‘Islamic’ if the person or the group are involved in un-Islamic activities.”The council said the timing of Harper’s remarks comes just weeks after a strong showing from ethnic communities in Ontario helped propel his Conservatives to their first majority government.The comments set a dangerous precedent and have the capacity to damage further efforts to root out extremist activity in Canada, it said.“We are working hard to bring people of all faiths together to fight the extremism and radicalism but Mr. Harper’s comments about Islam have damaged those efforts.”Harper’s remarks drew condemnation from political circles earlier this week.Acting New Democrat leader Nycole Turmel accused Harper of creating a climate of fear, describing the Conservative’s approach to national security as divisive and damaging.Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae also warned against identifying the Muslim faith with terrorism.“The enemy is not Islam, it’s extremism, violence, and hatred,” Rae said in a posting on Twitter. “It’s the way religious beliefs are twisted and perverted.”

002.216: Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.

002.19: And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith.Continued.....Hmmm........Un Islamic?Read the full story here.

Turkey on Israel's FM's plan: No one will extort us.(YNet).Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday slammed his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, following the foreign minister's comments, according to which Israel will "punish" Turkey by supporting its adversaries."No one will extort us," said Davutoglu during a joint press conference with his Brazilian counterpart, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota.On Friday, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Lieberman had decided to adopt a series of harsh measures in response to Turkey’s latest anti-Israeli moves, including the facilitation of cooperation with Turkey’s historic rivals, the Armenians, and scheduling meetings with the heads of Kurdish rebel group PKK in Europe in order to “cooperate with them and boost them in every possible area.” Though Israeli officials have denied that such steps have been in the works, Davutoglu stressed that Ankara hopes to see Israel "back its denial with actions." The Turkish foreign minister added that the PKK has become a tool, used by anyone wishing to harm his country: "It's important that our Kurdish people be aware of this. Every time someone tries to harm Turkey, it uses the PKK to do so. "We have the power to continue battling terrorism, while still being open to accept democratization efforts; no one will manage to extort us," he said. During the press conference, Davutoglu reiterated that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not cross into the Gaza Strip during his visit to Egypt, which is scheduled to begin on Monday.Hmmmm......"que Sera,sera?"Read the full story here.

Tantawi didn’t respond to Netanyahu, Barak during crisis.(Ynet).What really transpired behind the scenes of the dramatic rescue of six Israelis who were stranded in the Israeli Embassy in Cairo? Although Israel praised the action undertaken by Egyptian forces and its commandoes for rescuing the stranded Israelis from a fanatical mob, it turns out that there had been a severe lack of coordination even amongst the highest ranks. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to reach the head of the ruling Supreme Military Council Mohammed Tantawi over the phone overnight, but the Egyptians said they were "unable to locate him".It appears that only the swift intervention of US President Barack Obama prevented a catastrophe from unfolding. "I would say it was a decisive moment – fateful, I would even say," Netanyahu said on Saturday evening. "He said, 'I will do all that I can,' and he did; he applied all of the means and influence of the United States of America, which are certainly substantial. And I think we owe him special thanks." On Saturday evening, a senior Israeli official said, "Such things are not supposed to take place in the circumstances that had evolved."Military sources, meanwhile, revealed that the stranded Israeli security guards had been evacuated from the embassy while wearing the traditional Arab headdress keffiyeh and Muslim garments knows as Jalabiyas.After the evacuation, Egyptian officials drove the six to the Cairo airport, where they boarded an IAF plane to Israel. The defense establishment, including IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, monitored the situation closely while the operations and intelligence branches also prepared to take action in light of the developments in Egypt. Air force chief Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan managed the aerial operations from the underground army headquarters in Tel Aviv. Two air force jets, "Re'em" and "Tzofit" took off for Egypt at 4:30 am and returned the embassy staff to Israel.During the crisis, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also called Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr to urge Egypt to meet its Vienna Convention obligations to protect diplomatic property, a senior State Department official said.Barak spoke to US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and with Dennis Ross, President Obama's emissary to the Middle East. Barak, who discussed the situation in Cairo with Netanyahu and heads of the defense establishment, asked the American officials to help defend the Israeli Embassy against the protesters.Hmmmm....If Obama had not thrown Mubarak under the bus and supported the Muslim Brotherhood it would never have come to this.Read the full story here.

Antwerp: Shariah4Belgium opens Shariah court.(IslaminEuropa).A court has been opened in Antwerp which handles marriage disputes and inheritance issues according to Islamic law. It's an initiative of the radical Muslim group Shariah4Belgium, reports Het Laatste Nieuws. Monica De Coninck, Alderman for Diversity (sp.a.), says that in itself it's good that religious instances mediate in their communities, though it would have been better if it weren't done by fundamentalists.The Center for Islamic Services is housed in Borgerhout. According to its website it handles all cases of divorces, annulling marriages, reconciliations or matrimonial disputes in accordance with the Shariah of Allah, and can deliver a certificate where necessary.Alderman Monica De Coninck stresses this is not a court which can pronounce and execute sentences. If it's simply a mediator, she sees no problem with it, and says that her department is monitoring Shariah4Belgium.Vlaams Belang demands the Shariah court be closed down immediately. Filip Dewinter says that this court is a new step in the Islamization of Antwerp. He says that the constitution gives the courts a monopoly on settling disputes. You certainly can't have a parallel system of Sharia courts developing besides the official judicial bodies, which judges based on principles which clash with the values of our democratic constitutional state.Hmmmm.....Art 10 of the Belgium Constitution "All Belgiums are equal for the law and Equality between womenandmen is guaranteed"?Doesn't Sharia law contradict this?Read the full story here.

Erdogan slams Obama over US flotilla victim.(Ynet).Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday slammed US President Barack Obama, claiming he did not take interest in the Turkish-American citizen who died on board the Mavi Marmara during the 2010 IDF raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.Speaking on national Television station TRT, Erdogan said "I asked Obama whether he has no interest in the American casualty because he is also Turkish – and he didn’t reply." The Turkish prime minister reiterated Ankara's intention to take Israel to the International Court of Justice, after Jerusalem refused to issue an apology and pay compensation to the families of the victims. "We'll take this to The Hague, and the world will witness once more who are the ones standing beside the victims," he said, while criticizing elements in Turkey's opposition groups, whom he called "Israel's advocates." Despite his harsh statement, Erdogan did not reiterate the controversial comments he made during an al-Jazeera interview on Thursday, by which Turkish warships will be dispatched to escort future humanitarian naval convoys to Gaza. Erdogan's bureau issued a clarification on Friday, stating that the comments were taken out of context and that the prime minister was misquoted. Hmmmm......Remember when he got that horsekick?Might it have affected more?Read the full story here.

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Justifies Breaching of Israeli Embassy in Cairo(Memri).While most of Egypt's political forces condemned the breaching of the Israeli embassy in Cairo (September 9, 2011), the Muslim Brotherhood and its political party justified the incident. They deemed it a legitimate reaction to the Egyptian regime's hesitant policy vis-à-vis Israel following the incident on the border in which five Egyptian soldiers were killed by Israeli fire (August 18, 2011).Hmmmmm......Obama's 'partners'.Read the full story here.

Here is a Video of @keithellison saying that the Jews were behind 9/11. pic.twitter.com/bE9HxKBgmO — VP Elect (@MikePenceVP) November 20,...

In Memory Of Alexander Munch (1948 - 2012).

Israeli Six-Day War Vet.

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Shariah: The Threat to America

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